2022-04-20-世界经济论坛-Creating_Value_through_Sustainability_in_Private_Markets_17页_1006kb

Creating Value through Sustainability in Private Markets

Overview

• The private equity industry is well-positioned to lead sustainable finance due to its full ownership model, long-term horizon, and freedom from short-term pressures.
• Leading ETFs are capturing value through sustainability by investing in sustainability leaders, adopting sustainability-as-a-service models, shifting portfolios, and transforming low-performing assets.
• Major challenges include knowledge gaps on value levers, organizational misalignment, stakeholder pressures, and barriers like limited expertise and measurement inconsistencies.

Key Findings

1. Opportunities for Value Creation

   • Direct P&L impacts (cost reduction, revenue growth) and enhanced long-term viability (e.g., employee engagement, regulatory resilience).
   • Exit premiums for assets with strong sustainability performance.

2. Organizational Transformations

   • Drive cultural shifts by embedding sustainability into core business practices.
   • Install operational champions with industry expertise.
   • Integrate sustainability into the full investment lifecycle (origination, diligence, ownership, exit).
   • Strengthen measurement systems through standardized metrics and custom asset-level KPIs.
   • Embrace experimentation and scaling of successful pilots.

3. Grey-to-Green Transformations

   • Private equity can lead in transforming high-emission (grey) assets by leveraging full ownership and longer time horizons.
   • Key barriers include levels-based targets disincentivizing high-emitter investments, measurement gaps, and long holding periods.

4. Actionable Steps

   • Monday Morning Priorities:
     1. Invest in capabilities and culture.
     2. Develop a long-term sustainability plan.
     3. Communicate transparently with stakeholders.
     4. Avoid divestment alone; focus on transformative strategies.
     5. Collaborate across ecosystems to address industry-wide barriers (e.g., measurement standards, carbon pricing).

Conclusion

Private equity has a critical role to play in accelerating sustainability transformations to mitigate risks and capture significant value. Overcoming barriers requires both firm-level actions and industry-wide collaboration.